Spotted on a street in Stockholm, Sweden, this Ford Taunus from the “Project 5” (P5) generation of 1964-67 immediately created the feeling that I had seen it before somewhere. I had never seen a Taunus in the metal before and had heard of it only as the European Ford whose name sounded almost like Taurus. The feeling was unshakeable, though, and a brief amount of time searching on the internet was all that was necessary to reach a firm conclusion on why.

This generation of Taunus and the first generation Ford Falcon of 1960-63 clearly wore closely related styling. Most of the design elements of this 1960 Falcon are unmistakably replicated in the Taunus: the upturned ends of the front bumper, the outline of the grille, the upward sweep of the front fender line, the slight dip of the rear fender, the curve of the front wheel arch, and the shape of the greenhouse. Only the headlights, the shape of the rear wheel arch, and the substitution of a beltline crease for the Falcon’s scalloped flank differ in the Taunus.

The resemblance is less strong from the rear, where the differences in the tail lights and bumpers further disguise the relationship between the two designs, but it is still there in the trunk lid, roof line and rear window outline. The roof line and rear window of the original 1960 Falcon are more curved than those of the Taunus, but a similarly angular roof line and flat rear window debuted in the 1962 Falcon Futura, then became Falcon-wide in 1963.

The Ford family resemblance continues in the interior of the Taunus. Its twin pod dashboard top, dished steering wheel with 2 o’clock to 10 o’clock horn ring, and column shift all look familiar.

They are taken straight from the interior of the first generation Falcon. The five dial gauge cluster of the Taunus is also an American Ford design, used in the Mustang, Fairlane, and Mercury Comet.

The Taunus and its American older cousin were also similar in size, although they differed significantly in width and height. The Falcon was not longer, with the two cars within a few millimeters of each other, but it was significantly wider and lower. Whereas the Falcon was 181 inches (4,597 mm) in length, 70.1 inches (1,781 mm) in width, and 54.4 inches (1,382 mm) in height, the Taunus was listed as 4,585 mm in (180.5 inches) in length, 1,715 mm in width (67.5 inches), and 1,480 mm (58.3 inches) in height. The differences give the two cars distinctly different proportions, with the Taunus appearing shorter and higher. The compact Falcon was a reaction against the longer-wider-lower trend in American cars during the 1950s, but in the context of Europe, it was still not narrow or high enough.

Where the two cars differed most significantly was under the hood. The Falcon debuted with a 144 (2.4L) inline six, added a 170 cubic inch (2.8L) six option in 1961, and in 1963 offered an optional Windsor V8 displacing 260 cubic inches (4.3L). The Taunus 17M offered 1.5L and 1.7L versions of Ford’s V4, introduced two years earlier, and the Taunus 20M used the newly introduced Cologne 2.0L V6 that was essentially the V4 with two additional cylinders. (There was also a separate model Taunus 12M/15M with a smaller body and smaller displacement engine, with front wheel drive and the V4 engine from 1962 onwards.) The Cologne V6 would come to the U.S. in the 1970 Mercury Capri and last until 2011 in the Ford Explorer and other American Fords, enlarged to 4.0 liters, outlasting the Windsor V8 by a decade.

The 1964-67 Taunus 17M/20M was the latest in a line of Taunus designs that had been styled after American Fords. The first generation Taunus 17M of 1957-60 directly borrowed the styling of the American 1956 Fords, from the headlight pods, grille, and bumper in front, to the V-shaped dip in the chrome trim and two toning on the side, to the small tailfins. The Taunus was a considerably smaller car powered by a 1.7L inline four, though.

The second generation 1961-64 Taunus 17M was an original design styled in Germany by Uwe Bahnsen, who would design German Fords for almost 30 more years. It abandoned the 1950s American decorations of its predecessor for Germanic clean lines and lack of decoration, while sharing design elements with American Fords. At this point, the relationship between German and American Ford design was a back and forth cross-pollination rather than German borrowing of American design. The general shape and front bumper are reminiscent of the 1960 Falcon, which was developed at around the same time. The headlight surrounds, peaked fenders, and recessed hood resemble those of the 1961 Lincoln Continental because Elwood Engel visited Ford of Germany and saw the design that would become the 1961 Taunus, and it influenced his 1961 Thunderbird design proposal that became the 1961 Continental. The headlight surrounds and peaked fenders then made their way onto the 1961 Ford Thunderbird.

The 1964-67 Taunus 17M/20M swung back toward direct imitation of American design, taking the Falcon-like general shape of the 1961-64 generation and borrowing exterior and interior details more explicitly from the 1960-63 Falcon.

Ford of Germany and its American parent company diverged widely when they replaced the Taunus and Falcon during the 1970s. In 1972 Ford of Germany replaced the Taunus with the Granada, whose new chassis featured an independent rear suspension with coil springs that replaced the live axle and leaf springs of the Taunus. In front, double wishbones took the place of the MacPherson struts of the Taunus. Even a vinyl roof could not disguise the modernity of the Granada. The Taunus became an obsolete design licensed for production in developing countries, which included Argentina, Turkey and Korea.

In its home country, on the other hand, Ford kept producing the aged Falcon platform under various guises until 1980. The last would be the Ford Granada and Mercury Monarch of 1975-80 and the Lincoln Versailles of 1977-80. A vinyl roof was perfectly in keeping with the design philosophy of these compact Broughams, which used a 1960 chassis that was thoroughly average when new and disguised it under layers of decorations. Borrowing the Granada name used by its increasingly distant and more advanced German cousin was unintentionally highly ironic, as was the advertising campaign comparing the American Granada to a Mercedes: the German Granada offered much of the chassis sophistication of a Mercedes, while the American Granada offered a weak claim of styling similar to that of a Mercedes. The arrival of the Ford Fairmont and its more modern Fox platform in 1978 was a significant step forward, but it was six years after the introduction of the German Granada and still lacked independent rear suspension.

This innocuous, refrigerator-white Ford Taunus represents a sort of testament to the peak of the American automobile industry. A product of the mid-1960s, it translated an American design almost line-by-line into the size and engineering context of Germany. It was from an era when even Mercedes would blatantly copy American styling features, the best known example being the “Heckflosse” sedans with tailfins produced from 1959 to 1964. Eight years and two design generations after the 1964 Taunus, Ford had ceased to emulate its American models in Germany. A similar change occurred at GM’s Opel subsidiary, whose compact Rekord wore heavily American-influenced styling until 1966, and whose Chevy V8-powered “KAD” (Kapitan-Admiral-Diplomat) luxury cars sold in small numbers until cancelled in 1977 in favor of the smaller, six cylinder, European styled Senator. Today it is nearly impossible to imagine Ford or any other automobile manufacturer in Germany copying an American design, except to produce an internationally homogeneous “world car” such as the Chevrolet Volt/Opel Ampera/Vauxhall Ampera/Holden Volt. So let us enjoy this German-American (or American-German) cousin of the Falcon as a monument to the Detroit of yesteryear, the likes of which we are unlikely to see again.

The Taunus name was to (German) Ford what Cutlass was to Oldsmobile, they stamped that name on everything. In fact, there were several lines of cars named Taunus. The smaller fwd Taunus-line (P1, P4, P6), and the larger rwd Taunus-line (P3, P5, P7). The smaller line was replaced by the Taunus/Cortina, the larger by the Granada.

If I understand correctly, it was more that for a long time, Taunus was the marque, rather than Ford, although the cars were still obviously produced by Ford-Werke. I’m not entirely clear on the background there, but I think for a while the various Taunus models were not marketed as Fords at all.

Actually, not just cars, vans too. When Ford started selling a commercial van in the early sixties, they initially called it the “Taunus Transit”. In its subsequent generation, the name was shortened to just “Transit”, which is what Ford’s European commercial vans are called to this day (including the smaller Transit Connect van that is also being sold stateside). Even as a little kid, I wondered what the heck that van had in common with the cars.

Just like George Foreman called his boys: George, George, George, George and George.
George used Roman numerals to keep his Georges apart and Ford used 2 digit numbers to keep the Taunus’ apart. The numbers had to do with the size of the engine (17 for 1700cc) and the word Taunus is taken from a mountain range in the central part of Germany. If I only knew what the “M “is standing for.

Also, like the Falcon with the Mustang, the Taunus TC/Cortina span a the sportier model with the Capri.

Besides the 1956 Ford, the Taunus 17M had some similar design with the 1952-54 Ford, mainly the roofline design and there also some similar designs with the British Zephyr/Zodiac Mark II.

Another model who borrowed some Falcon designs is the Corcel I in Brazil who looked like a shrunken 1966 Falcon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Corcel Ford inherited this car when they acquired Willys do Brasil who planned to built a car based on the Renault 12.

Is this strictly a pre-1970 thing ? As a kid, growing up in the seventies, I remember the Ford models very well: Fiesta, Escort, Taunus, Granada and Capri. All these cars said “Ford”, loud and clear, on the front and on the back.

Vans and trucks: the Transit, the D-series COE truck and the huge Transcontinental COE truck.

Yes, after the establishment of Ford of Europe in the late ’60s, the Ford brand was emphasized in Germany and FoG markets and the model lineup was more or less commonized between Britain and Germany. Before then, the British and German operations were almost completely separate and competitive.

We cannot be the only ones to see the resemblance, since it is so unmistakable, but I could not find a single print or internet reference to it. The Falcon having been a big seller in North America, South America, and Australia, but not in Europe, while the Taunus sold primarily in Europe, it is possible that not many people have actually seen both cars in the metal and had the opportunity to notice.

Horrid brown having been one of the most popular car colors of the 1970s, it is not a surprise to hear that your family’s Granada was that color!

Well, the V-4 was developed well before the Transit, so I think it was more that someone said, “Hey, we’ve got this quite-compact engine, let’s build a small van around it.” Apparently they thought that was a good enough idea for Ford of England to develop its own version of the V-4, since the Cologne and Essex engines were definitely not identical.

The Cologne V-4 was designed in the States, as I understand it, and was intended for the Cardinal (which of course became the Taunus 12M/15M). The original purpose was to make the engine small enough to use in a longitudinal FWD application without massive front overhang or an ultra-long wheelbase; I think they were looking at the Borgward Goliath, which had a flat four for about the same reason.

“The arrival of the Ford Fairmont and its more modern Fox platform in 1979 was a significant step forward, but it was almost a decade later and still lacked independent rear suspension.”
It was 1978, and if you are comparing this to the US Granada, 3 years is hardly “almost a decade later”.

You are right about the MY 1978 introduction of the Fairmont. Corrected.

The “decade later” reference was comparing the introduction of the German Granada in 1972 to that of the Fox platform. Six years being less like “almost a decade” than seven years, you do have a point there.

They are not composite – they are glass. It is not that unusual, just a result of the US demanding sealed beam lights only. For example the Mercedes pagoda SL (W113) featured a few days ago, the original lights look great, the US version not so much.

As regards the independent rear suspension, Ford’s early experiences in this area weren’t necessarily good. I’m sure Bryce or someone has tales of the early semi-trailing arm suspension on the Mk 4 Zephyr/Zodiac series.

Had a look and it sounds like they cheaped out – in eliminating any sliding splines or similar on the driveshaft to take up axial movement they had to allow some fore-aft movement of the semi-trailing arm at the hub which gave huge toe change with suspension travel.

I learned the Falcon – Taunus story as follows: The folks in Dearborn noticed a small rattly insect taking over the country’s roads and by the millions. So they decided to come up with a real insecticide: a front wheel drive Ford, affordable, progressive and better than a Beetle! After spending much money on its development management got cold feet and feared the conservative American public would experience some serious side effect from that insecticide and said: shove it!
But where? Well it supposed to be better than the Beetle, so shove it to Cologne, Germany! Brilliant!
That’s how Ford Germany came to build the first fwd Ford! Ford Taunus 12M. But to compete with the Beetle the engine had to be durable. They ran the engine in the lab for the equivalent of 150000km and it was still going strong! In real life the engine gave one problem: the camshaft was driven by timing gears and these wore out early. I suppose running an engine continuously in a lab does not equal the rigors of multiple daily starts and stops.
But the car was far better than a Beetle in all respects that matter.
I almost had one as my first car. I still feel like it’s the one that got away. But I drove one as designated driver for a bunch of inebriated friends………long story.
The Falcon and the Taunus 12M bare even more resemblance.

I have to correct myself in regards of the Taunus 12 M (P4). It was not based on the Falcon. It was based on a project that supposed to be one niche below the Falcon. The project was called “Cardinal” and it was Lee Iacocca who ordered it to be crated up and shipped to Cologne. Cologne developed it a bit further and had a winner.
Even if you have trouble reading this you still can enjoy the pictures:http://www.motor-klassik.de/fahrberichte/ford-taunus-12m-komischer-vogel-1102634.html

I’d say for my taste the Taunus is much better styled than the Falcon. But I never liked the original Falcon styling, though. I think Germans have translated this design much cleaner and elegant looking.

Always interesting seeing styling Ford-isms (and indeed GM-isms) shared between the US, German and British cars.
The FWD Taunus P4 and MK1 Cortina shared lots of details too. (roof and rear pillars on both look just like these)
PS Taunus looks like Taurus but doesn’t sound like it… The ‘au’ is as in house not as in horse.

This is untrue: German Granadas never replaced the Taunus but each belonged to different categories, so Granada was the big size and Taunus was the midsize althought there could be chosen a wide range of engines from the 1,3 Litre yo the thirsty troublesome 2,3 Litre ( it’s said the 2,3 Litre moved the American Ford Pinto ). For Europe, Ford Taunus and Ford Granada were built and sold simultaneously, no matter if both two looked too resembling one to the other as It happened with the pair of Opel Rekord and Opel Ascona . Someone commented here that Ford Falcon and Ford Taunus were never offered at the same time in the same dealer’s room. Little wrong information : both the American Ford Falcon and the German styled Ford Taunus with that horrorful front grille owed to Knudsen were produced and sold since 1974 st the Argentinisches factory facilites of Ford Motor Argentina, the weird thing is that both so differently oriented models rather than being two choices to cope with other brands, finally set a rivalry between themselves. The Argie customers who bought a Ford Falcon ( production ended 1993 or so ) , would never changed it for the more youthful Ford Taunus and viceversa. Yet only in Argentina survived the production of a strange Ford Taunus fastback coupé, who was never the same version known in Germany who differs a lot in the front fascia and has an eclectical ornament and trim for the rear lights.